New succulent beds in backyard: first look
My main focus this past month has been on renovating parts of the backyard. The first step was removing a large Agave chiapensis , as detailed in this post . Then I dismantled the remaining two raised beds in the side yard on the north side. They were originally built for vegetables, but they’d fallen into disuse in recent years because growing vegetables in our climate requires a lot of water and effort – and the payoff often is disappointing. The soil in these raised beds was shockingly sandy. No wonder vegetables didn’t do too well. After I’d taken out the horizontal bed, I evenly distributed the soil from both beds to form a base layer. I had to reuse the soil somehow. The bougainvillea at the left in the next photo, a variegated dwarf cultivar called ‘Bambino Sophia’, is the only plant that has remained. It’s thrived on neglect for a number of years and has earned the right to stay. Then it was time for the delivery truck: Half a cubic yard of crushed rock... ...four cubic yards o